Harvey’s: Christmas in a bottle

One of our best Christmas memories is of sitting in the splendidly Victorian Royal Oak, not far from London Bridge, drinking Harvey’s Imperial Stout, when, very obligingly, heavy snow began to fall outside. That’s probably why, when it came to thinking about which beers we wanted in the stash to see us through the bleak midwinter, our thoughts turned to the venerable Sussex brewer.

The great news is that, though IS (9%) remains the star of the show, the others (all 7.5%) are also excellent. They highlight the character of the slightly funky house yeast which adds complexity to what might otherwise be rather sickly-sweet beers.

By way of specifics: Christmas Ale (and this a compliment) could pass for a Fuller’s beer — fruity and round with plenty of orange peel and cherry character; while Prince of Denmark, billed as ‘dark ale’, is in export stout territory — all liquorice and cocoa under a thick brown head. Elizabethan Ale, first brewed in 1952, we’re still getting our heads round, but our first impression was very much ‘Yum’.

While shopping online, we also considered this twin-pack of mini-kegs from Adnams as a Christmas present to ourselves but it didn’t quite suit our plans. Have you spotted any similarly tempting packages?

10 thoughts on “Harvey’s: Christmas in a bottle”

Heh,heh,heh – you see how quickly the slide sets in.One minute you’re embarrassed about being in the VIP section of a brewery event and the next you’re making pointed remarks about not receiving any freebies and GOD FORBID, paying for your own beer.

For what my opinion may be worth, I don’t think that you guys actually need to state that you *didn’t* get the beer you’re writing about for free.
Disclosure when you have had a freebie, perhaps, but I don’t myself believe that anybody who reads this blog at all regularly or carefully believes that the odd free bottle or brewery tour would sway your collective judgement anyway.

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“I drank only water; the other workmen, near fifty in number, were great guzzlers of beer… We had an alehouse boy who attended always in the house to supply the workmen. My companion at the press drank every day a pint before breakfast, a pint at breakfast with his bread and cheese, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, and pint in the afternoon about six o’clock, and another when he had done his day’s work.”

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Over-thinking beer, pubs and the meaning of craft since 2007

We’re Boak and Bailey

We're geeks in general, but especially about beer and pubs. We write under the names Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey. We live in Cornwall in the UK. We've been blogging about beer since 2007. We're also the 2014 BGBW Beer Writer(s) of the Year. Email: contact@boakandbailey.com

2014 Beer of the Year

Duvel Tripel Hop 2014 (Mosaic)
The Duvel we know and love but with more oomph from a seasoning of fruity US hops and a touch more alcohol. Ludicrously drinkable for a beer of 9.5% it shows that ‘balance’ doesn’t have to be an excuse for meek, weak beers.

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